Sascha Feinstein: Publishing My Father’s Reflections on Hans Hofmann

Sascha has graciously donated his time and opened this up to the public for free.

English Professor and author Sascha Feinstein tells the story of his journey “from woe to wow” to get his father’s book Understanding Hans Hofmann published, an important contribution to the literature on this revered artist. Feinstein’s father, Sam Feinstein, was a well-known artist and teacher on the Cape, New York City and Princeton, N. J. who studied with the legendary abstract expressionist Hans Hofmann in Provincetown during the 1950s. He became Hofmann’s true friend and confidant and made an important film about him in which Hofmann painted The Window. The film premiered at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the painting was acquired by them.

Sascha Feinstein realized that his father’s intimate knowledge of Hofmann would create a rounded portrait of the artist and he interviewed him extensively from 1989 -1990 to capture and edit his remembrances. Sascha will talk about his attempt to get the work published, which was an experience he says went from “woe to wow.” Fortunately, after a long nightmare with the first publisher that led to nothing being published, Provincetown Arts Press is now launching the book on July 16.

Sascha will also read his father’s thoughts on Hofmann’s painting Rhapsody from the book to convey the artist’s sensibility as a painter and to give the audience a greater avenue into abstract expressionism.

Books will be available for signing at the reception following the talk.

Sascha Feinstein is the author of 12 books, including 2 volumes of poetry (Misterioso and Ajanta’s Ledge), 2 memoirs (Black Pearls: Improvisations on a Lost Year and Wreckage: My Father’s Legacy of Art & Junk), and an interview collection (Ask Me Now: Conversations on Jazz & Literature). In 1996, he founded Brilliant Corners: A Journal of Jazz & Literature, which he still edits. He has recently given lectures and readings at conferences in Berlin, Vienna, and venues across the United States. His honors include the Pennsylvania Governor’s Award for Artist of the Year. He is the Robert and Charlene Shangraw Professor of English at Lycoming College in Williamsport, PA, and is a summer resident of Dennis. See www.SaschaFeinstein.com for more information.